Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19

The passage quoted above is one of those passages that has been given numerous interpretations, some of which have been so far out in left field that they left the stadium.  However, it is an important passage and one worth looking at…especially for us “charismatics” who love to bind and loose.

In context, Jesus had just asked the apostles who the crowds thought he was and who the twelve thought he was.  The crowds thought that Jesus might be John the Baptist come back to life or one of the prophets who had returned.  Peter had answered for the group by correctly declaring that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God.  Jesus responded by declaring that upon the rock or foundation of Peter’s confession that Jesus was the anointed Son of God, he would build his church. That confession has been asked of every believer since Pentecost … “Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God?”

Not only would he build his church, but it would be a triumphant church overcoming all the power of hell.  The gates of a city always represented its power and standing among the kingdoms of the world.  Jesus said that the gates –  power and authority – of hell would not be able to withstand the kingdom.  We should note that Jesus envisioned the church as being on the offensive rather than the defensive.  He painted a picture of the church having the enemy encircled and entrapped within the walls of a city whose gates would not be able stand against the onslaught of heaven. Jesus presented a similar picture after casting out demons. He said, “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry of his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house” (Mt. 12:29).

Whatever Adam had surrendered to Satan, Jesus came to take back and has given his church the same mandate.  Simply put, we should have no fear of the enemy.  He should fear us.  In Christ, we are always stronger. That is why James could say, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Ja.4:7).  Some “end-times” scenarios have the church cowering at the hands of the Anti-Christ with the rapture as her only way out.  Jesus spoke of a church with power sealing up the enemy, plundering his house,  and overcoming him.

Jesus then declared that he would give his followers the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  Keys represent authority.  If you were a Roman jailer, you could lock up or release those under your authority. You could loose them or bind them because you had been given authority to do so. You didn’t decide who would be locked up or released, but you carried out the orders and at the point of contact, you bound them or released them.

In that cultural context, Jesus said we would be given authority to bind or loose. There was another cultural meaning that Jesus was drawing on as well. To the Jews of the day, those words were quite familiar.   In the synagogue, doctrines or commands were said to bind or loose. The words carried the sense of permitting or forbidding according to the Word of God.  To bind was to forbid and to loose was to permit.  Jesus declared that he was giving us authority to bind on earth what was forbidden in heaven and to loose on earth what was permitted in heaven. We do not determine what is bound or loosed in heaven but we declare and enforce those heavenly laws, principles, and values on the earth.  The idea is embodied in Christ’s command for us to pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Some translations make it sound as if we decide what to bind or loose and then heaven adopts our decisions.  According to a number of Greek scholars, the verb tense of loose  and bindin Matthew are “future indicatives” of “I am,” with perfect past participles.  I’m no Greek scholar but here is what these men say about those tenses. They should be translated “shall have been bound” and “shall have been loosed.” This translation reflects the truth that what men, led by the Holy Spirit, decide on earth about spiritual matters will have already been decided in heaven. This passage does not express man’s initiation, but man’s following God’s lead.  The New Standard American Bible gets it right when it says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven” (Mt.16:19).

This understanding of the text lines up with Jesus who modeled the believer’s life for us.  He didn’t say that whatever he decided, the Father lined up with.  He said that he only did what he saw the Father already doing and only spoke what the Father had already spoken. He did on earth what had already been determined in heaven.

So…before we go running around binding and loosing, we want to make sure that what we are declaring and commanding lines up with God’s will.  That means that whatever is forbidden in heaven we can forbid or bind here with all of heaven’s authority behind us.. Sickness is not permitted in heaven.  Demonic affliction is not permitted in heaven. We have the keys – the authority with which to bind sickness, infirmity, demons, and so forth in the name of Jesus.  We can also bind the church to God’s holiness rather than accepting compromise with out culture. We can also loose or permit.  We can find those bound up in shame, legalism, and the lies of the enemy and give them full permission to walk in grace and forgiveness. We can also loose people from their pasts, from demonic affliction, from fear,  and from infirmity.

We have authority when we line up with heaven.  We have no authority to make heaven line up with us.  We cannot decree that same sex marriage is now permissible. We cannot decree that sex outside of marriage is acceptable as long as it is monogamous.  We cannot decree that abortion is permitted because it is legal according to man’s law.  We can only bind or loose, permit or forbid what has already been determined in heaven. But when we are aligned with the Father and know that he has given us authority to bind and loose in the name of
Jesus, we too can do the works that Jesus did.